Expressions researched:
"auspicious"
|"auspiciously"
|"auspiciousness"
|"auspicity"
Journalist: Who's blowing the shofar?
Hayagrīva: Conchshell.
Journalist: I thought it was a shofar.
Prabhupāda: What is that? Chauffeur?
Journalist: The Jewish ram's horn.
Prabhupāda: This conchshell sounding is considered auspicious. Yes. Actually it is conchshell sounding. So after offering prayer to the Lord, we bugle this conchshell.
Giriraja: I could try.
Prabhupāda: Try. You just try it immediately. You take one newspaper and comment on the current news. Any one of you... Every one of you can do. And show me how you have given. Then you start immediately. We have got many things to do. We have Kṛṣṇa, and Kṛṣṇa is the bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ sarva-loka maheśvaram (BG 5.29). What these petty politicians and three acres of land? Their stage is three acres of land; our stage is the unlimited. That I have mentioned in the second volume of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. So what news they can publish? Three acres of land. We have got the innumerable universes. We can supply so much news, provided people are ready to read it. We have published so many books, they are not even able to read these books. So the other devotees, (laughs) they cannot ri..., come at five o'clock. That is the test. Yes. One who cannot rise early in the morning, he is not spiritually serious. That is test. Brāhma-muhūrta, this hour, one hour before sunrise, is very auspicious moment.
Prabhupāda: It is called śaṅkha. From conchshell, it is made from conchshell. Where you have purchased it?
Woman: I'm afraid this is ivory.
Prabhupāda: Ivory? Oh. There is similar made from conchshell.
Woman: Yes, I had those in Allahabad. I was going there to...
Prabhupāda: Allahabad? Conch, from conchshell? It is especially used in Bengal. A woman... that is an auspicious sign that she is with her husband, to have conchshell bangle. Śaṅkha-sari. A woman dressed śaṅkha and sari, śaṅkha-sari. They don't require any other ornament. One nice sari and śaṅkha. That is Indian conception of woman having husband. That is distinction between widow and a woman having husband. Widow will not accept sari. All finished. Vedic culture, widow should finish her life after having the husband. Saha-gamana. Satī. Yes. (break) ...have got enough to preach. People will like it.
Devotee: Yes, I think so. Yes. I think we have enough.
Prabhupāda: Not actual fish.
Devotee (7): (indistinct)
Prabhupāda: Not that Lakṣmījī eats fish. (laughter) There are many other marks also.
Devotee (7): So, it's an auspicious mark. Would it be better if we gave up the eating of vegetables then?
Prabhupāda: Hm?
Devotee (7): Would it be better if we gave up eating vegetables?
Prabhupāda: You cannot eat anything accept Kṛṣṇa prasādam. Even if we eat vegetables, that is also sin. Bhagavad-gītā clearly says, bhuñjate te tv agham pāpā, ye pacanty ātma-kāraṇāt (BG 3.13). If you prepare very nice pure foodstuff for eating yourself, then still you are eating sins. You have to prepare anything very nicely, offer it to Kṛṣṇa, then you take, then you will be free from all sin. Yajña-śiṣṭāśinaḥ santo. Even there is sin... Sin there must be. Just like you are cooking, you are taking water from the jug, there are so many germs you are killing. The killing responsibility is there. In the higher sense, "Thou shalt not kill", means you have to take the prasādam of Kṛṣṇa.
Prabhupāda: (reading:) "...Kṛṣṇa can be described, not (indistinct) Him, his mind becomes totally associated with Him. His Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda in his discourse at the (indistinct) Sunday, said there was no rigid rules and regulations for chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, nor does it require formal education. While uttering the name of Sri Kṛṣṇa one should focus the mind on the image and form of the Lord, His auspicious activities, His delightful sport, and His role as Gītā-ācārya. Lord Caitanya, during His visit to a temple in South India, found a man scanning the pages of the Bhagavad-gītā without seeming to read the verses, and inquiring, the same found that the person was illiterate and yet he was turning the pages of the Gītā at the request of his master because as he did so, he had a vision of Sri Kṛṣṇa expounding spiritual knowledge to Arjuna on the Kurukṣetra battlefield. Thereupon Caitanya embraced him in all admiration for his devotion, sincere faith, and guidance of the spiritual master as necessary for God realization." They give very nice article. You have seen it?
Prabhupāda: You have to purify.
Bob: Somewhat, but let me say I come to the temple at times and then I leave, and I'm not sure how much I take with me.
Prabhupāda: It will not take much time. Within six months you'll realize. But you have to follow the regulative principles. Then it will be auspicious. Just like these boys and girls are doing. Just see the girl, how she's chanting always. All our girls is...
Bob: Yeah, I've seen...
Prabhupāda: They have no tendency for going to cinema or going to hotel, no. Everything all stopped. Anartha-nivṛttiḥ. Anartha means unnecessary things, all rubbish.
Bob: I feel that when I go back, though...
Prabhupāda: The whole human life is meant for purifying. Śuddhyed sattva. Sattva means existence. So if you don't purify your existence, then you'll have to change your body, from this body to that. Sometimes it may be higher, sometimes lower. Just like, if you don't cure your disease, it can take turn in so many ways to put you into trouble. Similarly, if you don't purify your existence, then you'll have to transmigrate from one body to another. And there is no guarantee what kind of body you'll get. Very subtle laws of nature. Now there is no guarantee that you will get a very comfortable body or American body, no. Therefore for human being it is essential that he should purify his existence. Tapo divyaṁ putrakā yena sattvaṁ śuddhyed yasmād brahma-saukhyaṁ tv anantam (SB 5.5.1). Unless you purify your existence, you're hankering after happiness, you cannot get continued happiness. That is not possible.
Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes, I do.
Prabhupāda: Yes, thank you. Yes, at that time...
Śrīdhara Mahārāja: We took prasādam on the roof.
Prabhupāda: Oh, yes, thank you (devotees laugh). Yes. In that auspicious occasion we are connected. Before that, in 1920, ah 22, when I was manager in Dr. Bose's laboratory, young man, and I was nationalist, Congress party. I was a devotee of Mahatma Gandhi and C.R. Dāsa. At that time...
Śrīdhara Mahārāja: When I was (indistinct).
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Śrīdhara Mahārāja: That was the beginning of our...
Prabhupāda: No, I was in connection with Congress (?) in 1917.
Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Seventeen.
Prabhupāda: Yes, 17, when Annie Besant became the Congress president, yes. Then I became serious in 1920, and I gave up my education. So one of my friends, that friend he is also now, perhaps you know Mahārāja, that Naren Mullik?
Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes, yes.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Rūpānuga: The main thing is that their leaders have no qualifications. And our leader has all qualifications. Our leader has all qualifications.
Prabhupāda: Oh yes, because they are perfect.
Prajāpati: Therefore all-auspiciousness appears by your presence, Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Prabhupāda: Yes, but why they, you accept it? You have got independence also. Acceptance and rejection.
Yaśomatīnandana: English car, Prabhupāda?
Prabhupāda: Rolls Royce. Not only English, you could not. (laughter) You could not, but he has done. Sometimes Śyāmasundara is envious of Karandhara. Now, just see what is the difference. He has taken twenty thousand dollars. He cannot pay.
Devotees: Jaya. All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda. (end)
Jayahari: Prabhupāda, this morning you talked about astrology in your lecture. Is this accepted in the Vedic scripture and by the gurus?
Prabhupāda: Oh yes. Astrology means... That is also Vedic. Jyotir-veda. Jyotir-veda. That is also part of the Vedas. The brāhmaṇas, they learn these three things: astrology and medicine. These two things. A brāhmaṇa is supposed to go to every householder's place, and he will inform, "Today is such and such tithi. The such and such thing should be done." And if required, if somebody inquires about, "Now I am going to that place. What will happen? Just find out the auspicious moment," so they will give him. Still it is current. It may be wrongly done or rightly, but the system is still there. Astrologer. The king should be always accompanied by a first-class astrologer. (break) ...there is a whole street, both sides simply astrology. (break) ...good astrologers.
Prabhupāda: Do that. Kīrtanānanda Mahārāja, you, and combined together, do that.
Viṣṇujana: Yes.
Prabhupāda: We have got so many duties to do. Don't waste time, a single moment. And don't eat more and don't sleep more. Then you'll be able to work.
Viṣṇujana: And this is the most auspicious work for now, is this remedial measure of...?
Prabhupāda: Eh?
Viṣṇujana: This is the most auspicious work for now, is this remedial measure to stop the chaos in the world?
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Viṣṇujana: That's most auspicious.
Prabhupāda: Most auspicious. Because if the people are in chaos, how they'll be able to accept the great philosophy? It requires cool brain.
Viṣṇujana: For example, in my program...
Prabhupāda: Budhaḥ. Budhaḥ. Eh? Yes?
Viṣṇujana: My program now is I have ten brahmacārīs in buses, and everything and we're distributing books. But if the people are in chaos, how they will be able to accept the knowledge in the books?
Prabhupāda: No, not all of them are in chaos. There are some of them. Some of them. Not that all of them. Hare Kṛṣṇa (break) ...in separate department.
Prabhupāda: That is ṣaḍ-lakṣana. That is another thing. Before sex, there is a ceremony. That is called garbhādhāna. (break)
Śrīdhara: "...ceremony takes place after the birth of the child. The family members take baths, cleanse themselves, and decorate themselves with ornaments and garlands. Then they come before the child and the astrologer to hear the future life of the child. Nanda Mahārāja and other members of the family dressed and sat down in front of the birthplace. All the brāhmaṇas who were assembled there on this occasion chanted auspicious mantras." (break)
Prabhupāda: (break) ...Mahārāja. This is kṣatriya king. Who has got so many cows to distribute? They cannot maintain even one cow. He is handed it over to the slaughterhouse. This is our position.
Prabhupāda: That's it. (break) ...Viṣṇu. That is the injunction. Of Viṣṇu. In the Pañjikā, you will find in the Bengali Pañjikā, when there is some auspicious sign, they have recommended, "Chant the name of Viṣṇu." Have you seen in the Pañjikā? Yes. (break)
Girirāja: "...and persons who are still following the Vedic ways, especially householders, keep at least one dozen cows and worship the Deity of Lord Viṣṇu..." (break)
Prabhupāda: In Indian villages—I have seen in Bengal—they keep cows, and they have got Viṣṇu śilā, especially in the house of a brāhmaṇa, all high caste (?). Yes. (break) Prahlāda Mahārāja, his father was a demon, but he was never afraid of Him. He was challenging, "Oh, my father..." He never said, "Father." He said, asura-varya: "the best of the demons." Tat sādhu manye asura-varya dehinām. When his father asked him, "My dear Prahlāda..." After all, he was child. "What you have learned best?" So he said, tat sādhu manye asura-varya. He is addressing his father, asura-varya, "the best of the demons." Tat sādhu manye: "I consider it very nice thing." Tat sādhu manye 'sura-varya dehinām.
Girirāja: (break) "...that this creature, appearing in the body of a serpent, must have been overburdened with all kinds of sins. Otherwise how could he have the body of a serpent? Your dancing on his hoods reduces all the sinful results of actions caused by his having this body of a serpent." (break)
Prabhupāda: ...to becomes angry by Kṛṣṇa is auspicious, auspicious. It is a very nice verse. "It is very auspicious that you have become angry upon him. He is getting salvation." (break) ...the punishment of Kṛṣṇa, one has to execute many pious activities in his past life, just to get the punishment of Kṛṣṇa. And what to speak of love of Kṛṣṇa, how much pious activities one has to do. If for being punished by Kṛṣṇa, one has to undergo lots of pious activities in the past life, then just see, to be loved by Kṛṣṇa, how much one has to undergo pious activities. Kṛta-puṇya-puñjāḥ (SB 10.12.11). That is described. Kṛta-puṇya-puñjāḥ. Puñja means heaps, volumes, volumes of pious activities. Then one can come to Kṛṣṇa. Yeṣām anta-gataṁ pāpaṁ janānāṁ puṇya-karmaṇām. Nobody can come to Kṛṣṇa unless he has background of pious activities and one who has become freed from all sinful activities. Yeṣām anta-gataṁ pāpaṁ janānāṁ puṇya-karmaṇām. This is the qualification. (break)
Nitāi: Fourteen. Yeah, let me see it to read it. So it says here, "The best process of understanding You is to submissively give up the speculative process and try to hear about You either from Yourself, as You have given statements in the Bhagavad-gītā and many other similar Vedic literatures, or from a realized devotee, who has taken shelter at Your lotus feet. One has to hear from a devotee without speculation. One does not even need to change his worldly position. Simply he has to hear Your message. Although You are not understandable by the material senses, simply by hearing about You one can gradually conquer the nescience of misunderstanding. By Your grace only, You become revealed to the devotee. You are unconquerable by any other means. Speculative knowledge without any trace of devotional service is simply useless waste of time in search for You. Devotional service is so important that even a little attempt can raise one to the highest perfectional platform. One should not therefore neglect this auspicious process of devotional service and take to the speculative method. By the speculative method, one may gain partial knowledge of Your cosmic manifestation, but it is not possible to understand You, the origin of everything. The attempt of persons who are interested only in speculative knowledge is simply wasted labor, like the labor of a person who attempts to gain something by beating the empty husk of rice paddy. A little quantity of paddy can be husked by the grinding wheel, and one can gain some grains of rice, but if the skin, the paddy, is already beaten by the grinding wheel, there is no further gain in beating the husk. It is simply useless labor."
Prabhupāda: So bhakti school does not very much appreciate the speculative method. They surrender and they try to get knowledge directly from the Supreme Lord, as Bhagavad-gītā is being spoken by the Supreme Lord, or statements of the pure highly elevated devotees, just like Brahmā is speaking. This way. Hearing. The main purpose is hearing, hearing from the right source. That is... Especially in the western world, instead of hearing from the right source, they want to speculate about the Absolute. We have got about twenty books like this, but they are not speculation. They are simply by hearing. I am writing what I have heard, not that I am speculating. Mostly, the philosophers, they write as they speculate. They write their own opinion. But our process is not that. We don't speculate. We present the statements of God and His devotees.
Prabhupāda: Hm.
Jayatīrtha: No rain, no sun.
Prabhupāda: No, in the Kali-yuga it will be like that. There will be cloud, even thunderbolt and lightning, but there will be no rain. That is stated.
Bali Mardana: That is very inauspicious. That is not auspicious.
Prabhupāda: No.
Jayatīrtha: In the Kṛṣṇa Book you say that this Kali-yuga is compared to the cloudy season.
Prabhupāda: Eh?
Jayatīrtha: The Kali-yuga is compared to the cloudy season of...
Rāmeśvara: The living entities, the living entities.
Jayatīrtha: And only by the appearance of Lord Caitanya with the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra are the clouds cleared away.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Upendra: Translation: But those who worship Me with devotion, meditating on My transcendental form—to them I carry what they lack and preserve what they have.
Purport: One who is unable to live for a moment without Kṛṣṇa consciousness cannot but think of Kṛṣṇa twenty-four hours, being engaged in devotional service by hearing, chanting, remembering, offering prayers, worshiping, serving the lotus feet of the Lord, rendering other services, cultivating friendship and surrendering fully to the Lord. Such activities are all auspicious and full of spiritual potencies; indeed, they make the devotee perfect in self-realization. Then his only desire is to achieve the association of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is called yoga. By the mercy of the Lord, such a devotee never comes back to this material condition of life. Kṣema refers to the merciful protection of the Lord. The Lord helps the devotee to achieve Kṛṣṇa consciousness by yoga, and when he becomes fully Kṛṣṇa conscious the Lord protects him from falling down to a miserable conditioned life.
Prabhupāda: But that requires faith. One who does not know what is God and what is protection, how he can take to it? He depends on his own energy. That is karmīs. He wants to happy by his own energy not only in this life but also next life, by acting very piously, wants to be promoted in the heavenly planets. That is fact. One can go. But that is on account of his own labor. But here the bhaktas, they are taken care of, the Supreme Lord. So just like child. He doesn't care how he will live comfortably. But the father takes care. That is the position of bhakta. The karmīs, they are taking care of themselves. But the devotees, they are taken care of by the Supreme. That is difference. What is that?
Prabhupāda: Oh, then we must go. (break) Hm.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Sometimes we have heard that ekādaśī is a inauspicious alignment of the planets and therefore one has to counteract this inauspiciousness by more chanting.
Prabhupāda: (laughs) No, no. It is the most auspicious. And chanting is more effective. (break) Yes.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I remember you were instructing once that all of your initiated disciples should chant twenty-five rounds...
Prabhupāda: Minimum.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Minimum on this day. Is that a rule that we should all follow in our temples?
Prabhupāda: We are sixteen rounds.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No, I mean on ekādaśī.
Prabhupāda: Oh yes. Ekādaśī, simply you should chant. No other business. Nirjala.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No preaching work? Should they go out for preaching?
Prabhupāda: No, those who are preaching, not for them. Those who are sitting idle, or they... (laughter) (break) ...has no other regulation, simply preaching. A preacher is so exalted. He hasn't got to follow any regulation. But don't take it. (laughter) And actually if one is busy in preaching work, that is first-class. (break) ...not my manufactured word, my Guru Mahārāja, that the... That Mādhava Mahārāja, when he was a brahmacārī, his name was Hayagrīva. So he was to go somewhere. So but he was sick. Guru Mahārāja was informed that he was sick and "Today is ekādaśī. He cannot take his regular meals." So Guru Mahārāja said, "No. Let him take immediately meals and go."
Dhanañjaya: For cleaning teeth?
Prabhupāda: Yes. It is good... For those who are soft gum, it is good medicine.
Devotee (2): Nim leaves?
Dhanañjaya: No, the sticks, twigs. (break)
Brahmānanda: ...auspicious to see a calf drinking milk?
Prabhupāda: Yes. But there is no milk. (laughter) (break) Somebody should give me daily one fresh nim stem. Ask somebody. (break) Everything you have to do?
Dhanañjaya: I can learn from Brahmānanda Mahārāja. I can learn from Brahmānanda how to break it and make it ready.
Brahmānanda: No, no. Prabhupāda will arrange that. You just bring the branch.
Dhanañjaya: All right.
Prabhupāda: There are so many nim trees.
Harikeśa: You were telling us last year about nim leaves being very good for the stomach.
Prabhupāda: Oh, yes.
Indian man (1): We have got our Pultasena.(?) Pultasena means he is a lower-class man. He has written the Rāmāyaṇa in Malayalam. He was the son of a muhri(?) (indistinct), and the muhri was crossing a river, just when he came to a lake. That river he cannot cross because (indistinct). So he said, "There is an auspicious moment. If I get a son, he will be a wonderful chap." So he went and slept in somebody's veranda. That lady (indistinct) He was not getting sleep, walking up and down. He asked (indistinct) The lady of the house came back and told, "Oh, at this auspicious moment if I get a son he will be wonderful chap." So he got a son from that... And this man went away. After so many years, when he came, this boy, from the childhood he went to the temple. And when he goes there he says, "False, false." He used to say because these brāhmaṇas are narrating the Vedas in such a bad way, it is all false only. It is all darkness. The muhri knew if they gave some (Hindi) after praying something, they (indistinct) The boy (indistinct) Then this amuhri came after so many years that way. He saw this boy, he understood it. Then he gave another... (break)
Dr. Patel: ...are rogues. (Hindi)
Prabhupāda: And the Patel was subordinate to Nehru. (laughter)
Dr. Patel: No, no. Patel, for the sake of the country he accepted the subordination. Otherwise whole India, all provinces, selected him as the prime minister. But because this man would have spoiled the whole thing he said, "I don't mind if my country is getting weak." He had a greatness of vision and a big heart. These are all petty-hearted people.
Prabhupāda: (break) Now in this age there is no brāhmaṇa, no kṣatriya, no vaiśya. All śūdras.
Jayapatākā: And the day after is Nityānanda's āvirbhāva.
Prabhupāda: Oh, then half-day fasting.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Wow.
Hṛdayānanda: Auspicious alignment.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: (break) ...on your appearance day and Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī's and Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura and Gaura Kiśora's we should observe half-day fast. I have a question that on all the other auspicious days, just like Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura and others, should we also observe half-day fast?
Prabhupāda: It is... But if you cannot, that is another...
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Sometimes because of the saṅkīrtana...
Prabhupāda: No, no. If you cannot, you can take.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: And just sing some songs and praise.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Yes. Kīrtana is main thing.
Haṁsadūta: ...Yeah. That's auspicious
Prabhupāda: Eh?
Haṁsadūta: That's auspicious?
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Gaura-Nitāi!
Gurudāsa: Gaura-Nitāi.
Prabhupāda: (break) ...moon is going around the earth.
Gurudāsa: Tree.
Prabhupāda: So why the moon is, particularly rises from the eastern side? The moon, according to the...
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Scientists.
Prabhupāda: The moon is going round like this. So why the moon is rising from the eastern side? It is going around. Why it appears from the eastern side?
Devotee: They say because the earth is spinning on an axis.
Prabhupāda: Hm?
Pañca-draviḍa: 'Cause the earth is turning.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: That's a very good question. (laughter)
Gurudāsa: What's the answer, Śrīla Prabhupāda?
Prabhupāda: So you answer. He has understood.
Prabhupāda: Or translation. No, Sanskrit also. The mantra, hearing, that is very valuable. These are all Vedic mantras. If you simply hear, it helps you spiritually.
Hṛdayānanda:
"Prahlāda Mahārāja continued: One may possess wealth, an aristocratic family, beauty, austerity, education, sensory expertise, luster, influence, physical strength, diligence, intelligence and mystic yogic power, but I think that even by all these qualifications one cannot satisfy the Supreme Personality of Godhead. However, one can satisfy the Lord simply by devotional service. Gajendra did this, and thus the Lord was satisfied with him."
"If a brāhmaṇa has all twelve of the brahminical qualifications (as they are stated in the book called Sanat-sujāta) but is not a devotee and is averse to the lotus feet of the Lord, he is certainly lower than a devotee who is a dog-eater but who has dedicated everything—mind, words, activities, wealth and life—to the Supreme Lord. Such a devotee is better than such a brāhmaṇa because the devotee can purify his whole family, whereas the so-called brāhmaṇa in a position of false prestige cannot purify even himself."
"The Supreme Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is always fully satisfied in Himself. Therefore when something is offered to Him, the offering, by the Lord's mercy, is for the benefit of the devotee, for the Lord does not need service from anyone. To give an example, if one's face is decorated, the reflection of one's face in a mirror is also seen to be decorated."
"Therefore, although I was born in a demoniac family, I may without a doubt offer prayers to the Lord with full endeavor, as far as my intelligence allows. Anyone who has been forced by ignorance to enter the material world may be purified of material life if he offers prayers to the Lord and hears the Lord's glories."
"O my Lord, all the demigods, headed by Lord Brahmā, are sincere servants of Your Lordship, who are situated in a transcendental position. Therefore they are not like us (Prahlāda and his father, the demon Hiraṇyakaśipu). Your appearance in this fearsome form is Your pastime for Your own pleasure. Such an incarnation is always meant for the protection and improvement of the universe."
"My Lord Nṛsiṁha-deva, please, therefore, cease Your anger now that my father, the great demon Hiraṇyakaśipu, has been killed. Since even saintly persons take pleasure in the killing of a scorpion or a snake, all the worlds have achieved great satisfaction because of the death of this demon. Now they are confident of their happiness, and they will always remember Your auspicious incarnation in order to be free from fear."
Prabhupāda: You are reading the transcription or original verse?
Hṛdayānanda: Transcription.
Prabhupāda: So this transcription is quite helpful in pronunciation, everything. Exact it is coming. The diacritic marks follow, you can pronounce exactly.
Prabhupāda: You may read that.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: "One of India's biggest and most ancient religious festivals, Ratha-yātrā, the festival of the chariots, which has been enacted in several Western cities in recent years, is to be staged in South Africa in July. The festival in honor of Lord Kṛṣṇa is planned to be held in Durban next month by the local branch of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, widely known as the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement. Based on the thousands-of-years-old annual parade of the three main deities of the Jagannātha temple on huge chariots through the streets of Purī, Orissa, the festival has been staged by devotees of Lord Kṛṣṇa in major world cities such as London, Paris, New York, Washington, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Chicago, Montreal and Melbourne, following the spreading of Kṛṣṇa consciousness amongst thousands of Westerners in the decade since the founding of the movement in 1966 by Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda. Almost a million devotees participate in the chariot festival held every summer at Purī, where they offer oblations to Lord Kṛṣṇa; lend a hand, tugging the ropes, to pull the huge chariots; line the grand route; or simply attend to see the color and pageantry from high vantage points. Jagannātha-The three colossal chariots from which the term Jagannātha is derived carry the three Jagannātha Deities of Lord Balarāma, the Lord who gives spiritual strength and pleasure; Lady Subhadrā, one who is the auspicious one; and Lord Jagannātha, the Lord of the universe,"—with a capital L—"on the three-kilometer journey symbolizing Lord Kṛṣṇa's visit to the town of His childhood pastimes. This year ISKCON will sponsor Ratha-yātrā festivals in ten cities worldwide. Durban, however, is not amongst them, as the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement is fairly new and has not yet established itself on a firm basis and increased its following in Durban. Branch members are enthusiastic and are hoping to organize a procession of their own through the streets of Durban to coincide with the festivals which will be held in several major cities."
Prabhupāda: They are arranging like that or not? Our branch there?
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: They want to. I told them that better to wait until they have some more local support, because they would have to have Deity worship, and I don't think they're ready for Jagannātha deities there. There's only eleven devotees in Durban. So when they have some more local support, they can start holding.
Prabhupāda: No, this Jagannātha festival will be participated by all the Indians. There is no doubt about it. So our few men, and with the cooperation of the local Indians, it can be successful.
Dhṛṣṭadyumna: "Performance of sacrifice, study of the Vedas, austerity and simplicity, nonviolence, truthfulness, freedom from anger, renunciation, tranquillity, aversion to fault-finding, compassion and freedom from covetousness, gentleness, modesty and steady determination, vigor, forgiveness, fortitude, cleanliness, freedom from envy and the passion for honor—these transcendental qualities, O son of Bharata, belong to godly men endowed with divine nature." (purport) "In the beginning of the Fifteenth Chapter the banyan tree of this material world was explained. The extra roots coming out of it were compared to the activities of the living entities, some auspicious, some inauspicious. In the Ninth Chapter also the devas, or godly, and asuras, the ungodly or demons, were explained. Now according to Vedic rites, activities in the mode of goodness are considered auspicious for progress on the path of liberation, and such activities are known as daivī prakṛti, transcendental by nature. Those who are situated in the transcendental nature make progress..."
Prabhupāda: The defect of modern civilization is that they have no idea about liberation. Neither they have any idea about transmigration of the soul. From the very root, they are defective. They are thinking... Just like animals. Dog is thinking, "I am this dog. I am born dog and I'll die, that's finished, everything." He cannot think that "I can become also man." He cannot think that. So the modern civilization, they cannot think even that there is next life and we can go... They have got the tendency to go to the higher planetary system, moon. Artificially, they are trying, but they do not know. Just like they can go to any planet, sarvaga. Yānti deva-vratā devān pitṛn yānti pitṛ-vratāḥ (BG 9.25). They do not know this, although they have got the tendency to go. But they do not know how to go, positively what are the position of the different planets or Vaikuṇṭhaloka or liberation or next life, transmigration—nothing of the sort. Simply like dogs. Now consider this point, whether I'm speaking right or wrong. I know I am speaking the right thing, but if you deny, then you talk amongst yourselves.
Prabhupāda: Yes, it is fourth line. Give it to me. Where is spectacle? Oh, you have gone so far. Here it is. (laughter) Modeta sādhur api vṛścika-sarpa-hatyā.
Rādhāvallabha: It appeared, and you didn't even look. Remarkable.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa:
"My Lord Nṛsiṁha-deva, please, therefore, cease Your anger now that my father, the great demon Hiraṇyakaśipu, has been killed. Since even saintly persons take pleasure in the killing of a scorpion or snake, all the worlds have achieved great satisfaction because of the death of this demon. Now they are confident of their happiness, and they will always remember Your auspicious incarnation in order to be free from fear."
Prabhupāda: Purport.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Purport. "The most important point in this verse is that although saintly persons never desire the killing of any living entity, they take pleasure in the killing of envious living entities like snakes and scorpions. Hiraṇyakaśipu was killed because he was worse than a snake or a scorpion, and therefore everyone was happy."
Prabhupāda: Snake or scorpion... Of course, sometimes snakes, they eat their own children. They do it. But he has... He has tried to kill his own child. Modeta sādhur api vṛścika-sarpa-hatyā. Very good example. Saintly persons, they also want killing living entities like snake.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: "Hiraṇyakaśipu was killed because he was worse than a snake or a scorpion, and therefore everyone was happy. Now there was no need for the Lord to be angry. The devotees can always remember the form of Nṛsiṁha-deva when they are in danger, and therefore the appearance of Nṛsiṁha-deva was not at all inauspicious. The Lord's appearance is always worshipable and auspicious for all sane persons and devotees."
Prabhupāda: What is next verse?
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa:
"My Lord, who are never conquered by anyone, I am certainly not afraid of Your ferocious mouth and tongue, Your eyes bright like the sun, or Your frowning eyebrows. I do not fear Your sharp, pinching teeth, Your garland of intestines, Your mane soaked with blood, or Your high, wedgelike ears. Nor do I fear Your tumultuous roaring, which makes elephants flee to distant places, or Your nails, which are meant to kill Your enemies."
Prabhupāda: Nail is sufficient to kill an enemy like Hiraṇyakaśipu. No other weapon required. Simply tava kara-kamala-vare nakham adbhuta-śṛṅgam. Wonderful nails. Tava kara-kamala-vare nakham adbhuta-śṛṅgam, dalita-hiraṇyakaśipu-tanu-bhṛṅgam. Just like we sometimes press some insects; immediately dies. So this Hiraṇyakaśipu, simply by nails pressed and finished.
Pradyumna: Yes, Fourteenth Adhyāya. From brahmovaca, brahma-stuti.
Prabhupāda: Just stick to this principle, then you will be successful. Bhakti śreyaḥ śrutim. That is the real welfare. Śreyaḥ śrutim means "expands auspicity." (apparently talking about a picture) And they want to become one with God. And here is not one, but God is so lower that He carries the shoe of His devotee. Have they got any conception like this? (laughs)
Hari-śauri: They are always talking about...
Prabhupāda: There is a verse śruti mahāpure śruti mahāpure. You know this?
Pradyumna: Śruti apare?
Prabhupāda: Śruti mahāpure. (indistinct) yasya linde paraṁ brahma. "Let others worship the śrutis and others smṛtis, all these Vedic literature, and others Mahābhārata for liberation. But I shall worship Nanda Mahārāja, because in his courtyard the Param Brahmā is loitering. I shall worship Nanda Mahārāja. He's so powerful that he's made the Param Brahman come here and carry his shoes." Śruti mahāpure (indistinct) yasya linde paraṁ brahma.
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: No. Okay. Good. It's better to...
Prabhupāda: My father used to carry śālagrāma-śilā if he was going out in the...
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: In the neck?
Prabhupāda: His Guru Mahārāja advised him.
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: It's auspicious.
Prabhupāda: No, it is the safest place. In a linen handkerchief, bound up. Yes. So it is safe always, kaṇṭha. My father used to carry. Wherever he would stay, gaṅga-jala, tulasī, decoration. Say, half an hour business. My father was a great devotee. Yes.
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: You dedicated the Kṛṣṇa book to him.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Because he was a pure Vaiṣṇava. And he wanted me to become like this. He was praying Rādhārāṇī. He was praying to Rādhārāṇī. And any saintly person would come, he would simply say, "Give blessings to my son that he may become a Rādhārāṇī's servant." That was my father's prayer. He never prayed that "My son may become very rich man." He never prayed like that. Actually, his ardent desire that his son may become a Vaiṣṇava. And my Guru Mahārāja's training has put me this position. That I have admitted. Later on.
Guest (1): If it is told by (indistinct) who accept it.
Prabhupāda: No, why these boys are attracted ? They have not come here to see your industry for materialism. They have come here for spiritual. They have not come to see your cycle and sewing machine. Actually, they have come, Vṛndāvana, Māyāpur. And they are not poverty stricken. We go to Europe being poverty stricken. That Lady Wellington, he (she) challenged one of my Godbrothers, Bhakti Tīrtha Mahārāja, that "You Indian people..." She was very proud, Lady Wellington. Wellington was Iceland. She said that "You Indian people..." Of course, it was friendly talk. "You come to our country, we give you some stamp, degree, and you earn your livelihood in India. What you have come here to teach?" This was the challenge. Actually, that was happening. We were sending our men to England to become bar-at-law, to become MS, CP, to become this and that, and they became here big men. So why you people come here to teach us? This was the challenge. In those days a little favor of Englishman was considered a great boon. In Bengal there is a word, saheb śubha. Saheb means European, especially Englishman, and śubha means "auspicious." So if anyone can make friendship with a European, then his life is successful. And that was happening.
Hari-śauri: Drowned in the river.
Prabhupāda: The rush came, and there was no protection.
Hari-śauri: We'll have to be very careful if we go to bathe in the river.
Prabhupāda: No, now they make arrangement, section by bamboo, so the rush may not be very pressurable. Section by section. So section they go. Now the arrangement is better. But formerly the arrangement was not... It was open, and people come. As soon as there is little rush, pushing, there is great danger.
Hari-śauri: (laughs) Sounds like an auspicious place to die, though.
Prabhupāda: Yes. So I remember that day. I was thinking that "Such a big rush, forty million." Forty million, er four million.
Hari-śauri: Four million.
Prabhupāda: And if there is little push, then this poor child
will be finished. We were going very slow, and we did not know. I like... I remember that, that "I have come in a very dangerous position." Perhaps 1928, or about fifty years ago.
Prabhupāda: As they are reading our literatures.
Hari-śauri: As Kṛṣṇa consciousness spreads... Just like we see these different things happening in the world that are coming nearer to a religious way of life or a spiritual understanding, even though that may not be directly connected with our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, still, is that the cause, because there's an auspicious atmosphere that people are...
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Hari-śauri: ...able to come nearer to that spiritual goal?
Prabhupāda: Yes. The Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra is going on. That purifies.
Hari-śauri: So that's purifying the atmosphere.
Prabhupāda: That will help. That will, help them.
Hari-śauri: Yes. (end)
Prabhupāda: Oh.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: You have quite a big entourage now.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Scientist...
Prabhupāda: But our most auspicious sign is this, "Hare Kṛṣṇa movement is bona fide religion."
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: This is preceding your arrival in Bombay.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It's announcing your coming, practically. Very prominent.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes, I found Bombay very good scope.
Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. Organize Bombay as the center of...
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Especially when our that big hall is finished, we can hold several lectures...
Prabhupāda: Daily. At least weekly twice. Sunday, Monday, we shall hold lectures and call all scholarly people to understand. Make it nicely.
Hari-śauri: Ye janāḥ paryupāsate.
Prabhupāda: Ye janāḥ paryupāsate: "One who has dedicated his life for this program," teṣāṁ nityābhiyuktānām, "because he is twenty-four hours engaged," yoga-kṣemaṁ vahāmy aham (BG 9.22). Clear. Purport? Read.
Hari-śauri: Translation: "Those who worship Me with devotion, meditating on My transcendental form, to them I carry what they lack and preserve what they have." Purport. "One who is unable to live for a moment without Kṛṣṇa consciousness cannot but think of Kṛṣṇa twenty-four hours, being engaged in devotional service by hearing, chanting, remembering, offering prayers, worshiping, serving the lotus feet of the Lord, rendering other services, cultivating friendship and surrendering fully to the Lord. Such activities are all-auspicious and full of spiritual potency. Indeed, they make the devotee perfect in self-realization. Then his only desire is to achieve the association of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is called yoga. By the mercy of the Lord such a devotee never comes back to this material condition of life. Kṣema refers to the merciful protection of the Lord. The Lord helps the devotee to achieve Kṛṣṇa consciousness by yoga, and when he becomes fully Kṛṣṇa conscious, the Lord protects him from falling down to a miserable conditioned life."
Prabhupāda: Why not do this business, guaranteed by Kṛṣṇa?
Bali-mardana: By your grace it is all possible. By your grace.
Prabhupāda: Yes. (laughs) You do this.
Brahmānanda: This is wording for the Certificate of Awards. The Certificate of Awards.
Prabhupāda: Ha ha. Ha ha.
Brahmānanda: So it would be printed as follows: "International Society for Kṛṣṇa Consciousness. Founder-ācārya His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda. To certify that ... has attained the highest outstanding excellence in executing devotional service in the field of ... during the year 491 Caitanya Era (1976-77), this Certificate is hereby personally awarded from the hand of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, founder-ācārya of the Society, and in witness thereof, the founder-ācārya gives his seal and signature at Śrī Māyāpur Candrodaya Mandir, West Bengal, India, on this auspicious 491st birthday anniversary of the appearance of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. March 5th, 1977. Signed A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, GBC and Temple President."
Prabhupāda: So I think the wording is little more. It can be reduced.
Brahmānanda: Reduced.
Prabhupāda: Hm. That you can... Otherwise it is all right. Try to reduce the wording little more. Then it will be all right.
Devotees: Jaya Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Prabhupāda: Jaya.
Jayapatākā: Śrīla Prabhupāda? My mother left this morning, and she wrote a letter to you. I'd like you... If I could read it... "Śrīla Prabhupāda: I am sorry to hear of your illness. Jayapatākā tells me swift changes in temperature cause many illnesses in Māyāpur. A place so beautiful must have its thorns. May your recovery be soon. It was auspicious for me to have met you. Not having seen my son for so long, finding him in the midst of God's blessings at ISKCON with a spiritual master of such great repute was humbling in its magnitude. Perhaps in some small measure I can help parents understand what their children are into and weaken their weapons. This visit will be shared with others. It was propitiously enjoyable. As far as fund-raising, there is a seminar on new methods I am trying to get to, but Kṛṣṇa seems to be pulling me back. Perhaps tomorrow I will be able to go to Calcutta and Delhi. I will be corresponding regularly with Jayapatākā. In a few months I plan to move to California. You have taken good care of my son. You have brainwashed the cobwebs of materialism (laughter) and elevated his soul. Your goodness radiates to all who meet you. May God bless your body with good health. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Jayapatākā's Ma."
Devotees: Haribol!
Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa.
Devotees:Jaya Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Prabhupāda: Jaya.
Pañcadraviḍa: Śrīla Prabhupāda? I talked to... What's his name? Pañca-ratna. And he told me that they ordered everything to prepare khicuṛi, vegetable, sweet rice and tomato chutney for tomorrow.
Prabhupāda: Very good.
Pañcadraviḍa: And also for the day after they'll be serving something, and everybody who comes will be getting in addition to prasādam distribution, some prasādam in the temple also.
Prabhupāda: That's nice. Very good.
Prabhupāda: That doesn't matter.
Gargamuni: He said he'll be sending you a letter.
Prabhupāda: This is a great, nice, very... Activities are nice.
Gargamuni: It's auspicious because this book has just come out and already there is great appreciation.
Prabhupāda: Those who are after Hindi read. These professional Bhāgavata reader, what do they know about Bhāgavata? Rāsa-līlā, that's all. Kṛṣṇa is kissing Rādhārāṇī. Bas. That's all. And people take it that it is a sex literature. Vivekananda has said. This rascal Vivekananda has said that Vaiṣṇava religion is sexism, because they see sahajiyās in Vṛndāvana and Navadvīpa. The whole thing was spoiled.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So now they are finished. They actually never even began. The whole thing was a fake.
Prabhupāda: Whole Vṛndāvana is compact of sahajiyās. They'll... Our temple is there now. Here, this certification may be printed in a block letter, and you can, kept in our entrance of Vṛndāvana temple. People will read it. Is it not good?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes.
Girirāja: He died at an early age.
Prabhupāda: Hm? Who?
Girirāja: He was asking what happened to her husband. I said he died. He was a Parsee. As Your Divine Grace had said, that due to the saṅkīrtana movement an auspicious atmosphere is being created all over the world. So is it not possible that at least for the time being things will improve?
Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. Improve. Not for the time being. For ten thousand years.
Girirāja: Yes. Out of 427,000 years I was taking that 10,000 as for the time being.
Prabhupāda: It is nothing sport.(?)
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Śrīla Prabhupāda, where is the mention of that ten thousand years?
Prabhupāda: That I have heard it. Maybe in the Bhāgavata. Such a nice thing. Alone in this world I am struggling, and the so-called intelligent persons, they will not come. They have business. Why? If it is actually beneficial to the human society, why I should alone try? I will go on trying so long I'll live. There will be no checking of... But what kind of intelligent persons there are? (Govindam record in background) It has been approved by intelligent men like... From our section. Most wretched rogues. They do work. They are not so. They are intelligent. They have rejected all these "Lord" ideas and the... Because they have sinned, all humbug. Especially in the Western countries, in the Christian world, what is there? It is bogus. I have condemned it. You have seen that book? One Christian boy inquired. Have you got the copy? Bring. (pause) We shall go on playing govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam aham. People may hear or not hear. We don't mind.
Prabhupāda: Now you can go take rest.
Rāmeśvara: Jaya Śrīla Prabhupāda. (pause) (break)
Svarūpa Dāmodara: They asked me what program can be initiated for the Bhaktivedanta Gurukula and Institute for Higher Studies. So I suggested that during some auspicious time in Vṛndāvana like Janmāṣṭamī we'll hold a conference, the Institute, when the... They told us it will be opened in July. So I suggested that we're coming, all the scientists together. We would like to present "Kṛṣṇa Consciousness, the Scientific Philosophy." We can invite scholars from Delhi and surrounding Vṛndāvana communities and...
Prabhupāda: Seminar.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Seminar. Conference. Yeah, we'll bridge the gap. And I think that would be quite appropriate. It will be quite appropriate, so that we can start propagating the message. Then I will... They're making a pamphlet for tomorrow. Dr. Sharma is going to print it in Delhi. So we can do some nice program in Bombay. And in a little time most of the schools in India are closed, so we can have nice conference in Vṛndāvana and have slide shows and... I'm going to see that film tomorrow. Messages that we have... And I proposed that we have nice form so that we present nice slide show and specific objects.
Prabhupāda: That will be very nice. Good idea.
Prabhupāda: How they'll do? They have no asset. Engrossed with bogus things, cheating. That was my ambition. You have seen that Delhi shop? He was preparing first-class ghee, and all, hundred... So we are giving the real spiritual life. Automatically there is response. Customers will come. And (indistinct). And you can cheat somebody. (pause)
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Śrīla Prabhupāda, the Śyāmasundara Deity in temple today was beautiful.
Prabhupāda: That Deity is very, very nice, Śyāmasundara. Yaṁ śyāmasundaram acintya-guṇa-svarūpaṁ govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: When you see that Deity, are you... Do you call it Śyāmasundara or Govinda?
Prabhupāda: And Śyāmasundara is good name.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: More appropriate.
Prabhupāda: Nitāi-Gaura, Rādhā-Śyāma, Jaya Kṛṣṇa-Balarāma. (laughter) That includes all our Deities. Nitāi-Gaura, Rādhā-Śyāma, Jaya Kṛṣṇa-Balarāma. The "jaya" word is in the middle with this "Jaya, Haribol."
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Jaya is very auspicious.
Prabhupāda: I don't think there is any other temple in India, in this quarter... I can say, in India... (end)
Mr. Myer: Any time Mahārāja's willing...
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So I can consult Paṇḍitajī for an auspicious day.
Prabhupāda: Every day is auspicious.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: (laughs) That's why you're able to spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness all over the world, Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Mr. Myer: In Madras we have got very particular people. This is ho-kalam(?). One and a half hour every day, nobody does any work. Monday, 7:30 to nine. It's some time every day they say very bad. People don't start anything new, not going... In the afternoon there is rama-dandana.(?) So it always means a way of postponing things, so, as Guru was saying the other day, somebody said, "It's not auspicious to sleep on the north side." So then he said, "I don't have a head, so it doesn't matter which way the..." Quite true, that is.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So if tomorrow we could have this... Or day after tomorrow, perhaps. It will take a day to get the ingredients. Day after tomorrow is all right with you?
Mr. Myer: No, that's very good, yeah.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No, today's Friday, so day after tomorrow will be Sunday. Sunday morning. Is that all right? Actually Mr. Myer came here to get initiated. He had no idea to come here to become a manager here. Originally, before he went back to Madras to get his wife, he just came here for this thing, because he heard that you were very ill, and he didn't know what your position would be, so he wanted... So he rushed here, stopping all his work, simply to take initiation.
Prabhupāda: That is Kṛṣṇa's inspiration.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. He wanted your blessings. He says... This is a very detailed chart he did. All the calculations are given. He said Śukra as Munteśa,(?) Varṣa-lagneśa,(?) has no directional strength. Therefore the solar return is not good. The lord of the sixth house is conjunct, maṅgala, not good. The following days are not auspicious: the 27th to the 28th of September, the 24th to the 25th of October, the 20th, 21st, and 22nd of November, and 3rd and 4th of December. He says, "Śrīla Prabhupādajī is at present undergoing the fag end of Ketu Mahādaśa, and it will last until the 13th of January, 1978. Ketu is in the eight house."
Brahmānanda: Means death.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: The eight house is called the house of death. He says, "Ketu is in the eight house with the sun, which is the lord of the eighth house, and Krusu, the lord of the twelfth and third houses. They are all in the eighth house. Mercury in Ketu started from 16th January." He says, " Budha is the satesa also, disease. Śani has gone to the eighth house, which is the house of death, from the 7th September." That's the day you had your operation. "Śani as lagneśa in the eighth house and the transit over Jupiter and Ketu. The negative effect continues throughout October 1977, November 1977, and from the first of December, 1977, Saturn becomes almost stationary and becomes more malefic." Saturn becomes even worse. "In January 1978 until April 1978 it again traverses the same degrees and becomes stagnant on Jupiter and Ketu in the last week of February. The native has..."
Prabhupāda: January '77 we have passed.
Prabhupāda: What is date today?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Today is the 25th. It's an inauspicious day. So it's the proper day to begin taking it.
Prabhupāda: So let us begin tomorrow morning.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Begin tomorrow morning, on an auspicious day.
Prabhupāda: Ha.
Bhavānanda: Of course, you... Śrīla Prabhupāda, you've said when an auspicious thing comes along, it's best to act on it immediately. However, if you feel that you want to start in the morning...
Prabhupāda: You decide.
Trivikrama: You should take it now.
Pañca-draviḍa: Yes.
Prabhupāda: All right.
Pañca-draviḍa: If something's auspicious, why wait for tomorrow?
Prabhupāda: So?
Bhakti-caru: Here, Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Prabhupāda: Bhakti-caru... (Bengali)
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: All right, we'll go an arrange, Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Prabhupāda: They are taking their prasādam and living there?
Girirāja: Yes. They have nice meal in the morning and evening, and then in the day the main activity is they have the chanting party, and around the chanting party they distribute literature.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Very nice beginning, all-auspicious.
Trivikrama: Is the weather very cold?
Girirāja: It's not very cold. The climate is very healthful. In fact, two devotees were there who were in India for some time and they felt a little weary, and they both said that they felt that their health and strength had increased.
Bhakti-caru: It's a beautiful city also.
Girirāja: Yes. It's very peaceful and clean.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Sounds like a good place to take you sometime, Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Girirāja: The air is very, very pure. They hardly have any industry there, and very few motorcars. It's very unspoiled. So the air is clean and the people are also nice. Until a few years ago, there was no system of compulsory education, so the new ideas, Western ideas, have not come very much there.
Bhakti-caru: Śrīla Prabhupāda? (Bengali)
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Śrīla Prabhupāda, would you like a little soft chanting?
Prabhupāda: Hm.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. It was the proper bank to have there. And because it's right on the ground floor and just near the entrance of the gate, people don't mind coming from the outside. And I've noticed people, after they come and do their banking business, they go for darśana.
Prabhupāda: Very good.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Maybe our Deity will get known that people who bank in our bank, they get more money. (laughs) I think the I.O.B. is thinking like that, that to be connected with the Deity is very auspicious, so they're accentuating the involvement with ISKCON and Your Divine Grace and Rādhā-Rasabehari.
Prabhupāda: That's a fact.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We had no idea how that Hare Krishna Land would ever be successful.
Prabhupāda: Yes. It was a jungle.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That's what we were thinking. "Why does Prabhupāda want us to live in a jungle?" So far away. Nothing there but mosquitoes, and so many rats. We thought, "Who will come there?"
Prabhupāda: Now when we construct the other building, further down, it will be (indistinct).
| Page Title: | Auspicious (Conversations) |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, Mayapur |
| Created: | 04 of Mar, 2012 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=44, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 44 |